Worldtour diary- Part 7

20 01 07 to 10 02 07 Worldtour Diary Part VII (Halftime)

3 weeks have passed since I wrote the last time. And...since that date a lot has changed in my life.
Changing my opinion about Brazilians in the last days in South America due to some crazy partying and nice chatting in Santiago de Chile, I was quitting with a crying and a laughing eye.
And then...after 13 hours in the plane, after a time swap of 16 hours ( I AM NOW 12 hours in ADVANCE to Europe, means it is now Saturday nearly midnight to Sunday)...I arrived in another world.
Arriving at Auckland airport, New Zealand...all seemed so strange...and at the same time so common.
Huge skyscrapers, all people talking in English, loads of Germans in the streets, European prices (11 EUR for the bus from the airport to the city center...means approximately as much as a 15 hour bus ride in Peru).

What was not common....an invasion of Asian people...and of friendly people.
Sometimes I really think they have improved the French attitude of 'branler au boulot'to perfection. Wherever you go...people just start talking to you, want to know about you, your country, politics...whatever.
You often spend 45 minutes chatting with some guys who are supposed to work...and the fun thing ,-) they don't expect you to buy anything after that...not like in Cusco, where everybody was just your "amigo" because they wanted you to buy some stuff.

As I mentionned...living standards are pretty high here...and so prices as well (not as in the UK, but..)....an so I had to find some new means of escaping ....
This time not the question of "How to solve a problem like Maria?"( I still think the Romanian girl should have won it!!!) but more a question of "How to keep your budget under 50 EUR per day although a museum entrance costs 7EUR, a nationalpark entrance about 13 EUR...
Yes...if they have understood one thing here then that's how to ORGANIZE tourism to perfection.
A guidebook is totally unnecessary over here, cos wherever you go...there's always an information center with loads of brochurs, organized tours etc....
But...who the hell wants to do an organized tour???

Got that man...NZ that means BACK TO NATURE. Back to creativity, adventure here we go...
Having toured now nearly 3 weeks through the North island of NZ, I have slept...
- 3 times in a hostal
- Once in the car
- 4 times "couched" (means sleeping at the hous of sb local)
- 9 times slept in a tent...
Having had loads of experience with camping when I was younger... I nevertheless experienced sth new over here.
So far, I had always slept on some kind of camping grounds....here...
who needs a camping ground?
Costs too much money and...you can just build up your tent wherever you want over here...
in the garden of sb, in the forest, on a parking space close to the highway ,-)
And who needs a camping ground or a hostal if you can just go to a hostal, pass the admin office confidently, take your shower and say GOODBYE. ???

And...is there any better means of travelling than in a car?
Fuck all that buses who tell you where to stop. HERE I AM THE MAN!!
Or...to be honest "We are the men!!"
Having so far always had the feeling of "I have to leave you" after traveling for more than 3 days with somebody, I know found what I was always looking for. The perfect travel partner. Ok, nearly perfect, cos he's not female ,-) and doesn't like football...but travelling with Bertram, a totally funny Dutch guy is just a pleasure and we have loads loads of fun entering into hostals and museums for free, singing in the car, cooking a delicious meal on our 1 plate stove or whatever...

Enough impressions of my new 'lifestyle'???
So...what have I done so far??
As the names won't tell you much...let's keep it simple.
19 days of North island of New Zealand meant...
- totally British cities like Auckland and Wellington (but far cleaner)
- terrific untouched beaches in the North and East
- Volcanoe landscapes, geyseers, mud pools in the center (and...I can tell you...those volcanoes are more impressive than the good old Maare in the worldknown Eiffel!!!)
- Mountains !!!
- Seeing cheap an cows...green landscapes, fields...
- forests. Forests. And once again forests. Everywhere with all type of vegetation. Some more like in Europe (France, Austria), some more like in the jungle)
- SKYDIVING !!!! Means: Jumping out of a plane from nearly 5000m altitude...

You see....although the Northern island is supposed to be the 'boring'part of New Zealand, I can't complain.
It's not that impressive so far like Machu Picchu or th Cordillera Blanca in Peru...but I really appreciated...and...in 7 hours I 'll gonna be on the Southern island.
Will write you begin of March who this was..

As some of you might already have noticed, I'm no more everyday online but more once a week. So...please don't moan when an answer on a mail can take a while...and don't panic if I don't update my homepage for a week.
if you're really missing me you now have as well the incredible chance to call me on bertram's kiwi mobile 0064-(0)211573993.
So...keep in touch

Jochen


PS: If you might have wondered why this part is called as well halftime...
1) it's halftime of new zealand
2) it's nearly halftime of my worldtrip...n although I'm still hoping in a championship party in Doofmund in May..n although I'm sometimes missing the feeling of "not having to travel every day'I'm still full of hope, good mood to annoy you a little bit longer with my mails...
Looking sooooo much forward for Africa!!